Sword Art Online: Reboot
by SHSL Slacker
Summary: In a SAO without Kirito, who will be the ones to rise up and defeat Kayaba Akihiko, ultimately freeing these ten thousand players from their virtual cage? (More info inside. Changed my mind, too, due to the overload of messages in my inbox - SYOC Closed!)
1. 00: beginning of the end

**I get the feeling I'm gonna regret this, but... yeah. OC form and other stuff at the bottom.**

* * *

"Are you sure this is safe, Leader?" Lia asked, twiddling her thumbs as she eyed the coding on the screen. "I don't think this is very safe... they could get killed, you know?"

The long-haired man simply sat on his large chair, facing away from the blonde and typing in another line of numbers and commands. After staring at the screen's "LOADING" window for a while, it dinged and revealed the message "GATE OPEN". The man smiled, satisfied.

"They will be fine," he replied coolly. "They are chosen by the best of the best. Even without their memories... I'm sure they will find their purpose in that world."

"But-"

"I trust them, Lia. And please, do know your place; you're only the translator for these people. You don't have much right to question my plans." His smile melted slowly, switching to a slight frown. "Or perhaps you want to be sent into that world as well?"

The blonde's face deepened into a scowl as she responded. "You're sending them into a suicide mission! Without Kirigaya, they can't possibly defeat Kayaba! None of them have enough reflex as he does!"

"Lia!" the harsh voice silenced her quickly, and she straightened instantly. The man stood up, glaring down at her, just daring the blonde to go further and question why he was doing this, even. "You are in no position to test my patience. They are our to further this world's future. With them, we can create the perfect human weapon!"

He settled back down into his chair, glowering at the blonde, who refused to look away. "Someday, you will understand. But not now. Just follow me, blindly or not, translator, and maybe then you will see just who is the one in charge here. Dismissed!"

Lia gritted her teeth as she gave a mock salute and walked out of the computer-filled room. As soon as she was out of hearing range, she tromped down the stairs leading to the dorm rooms. Bursting in, she found herself in the middle of a poker game, when the few that had been playing silenced instantly.

"We need a plan."

* * *

**Okay, then. Firstly, rules/things you should know:**

**- Minimum number of OCs I need is 10. 5 'chosen' and 5 'normal'. A few extras won't hurt, though; they may be the ones mentioned above.**

**- A 'chosen' are the ones mentioned by Leader. In the beginning, they won't be much different from the others, so you can either submit with this or 'normal', which is exactly what it sounds.**

**- Try to keep them realistic, alright? I don't think it's very easy to get to Level 56 in the very beginning of the game, unless you specifically mention they have trained for a long time in some area. And even then, the highest possible should be around 15.**

**- Two OCs max for each person. Submit through PM, please! Submission by reviews will not be allowed.**

**Form:**

**Real Name:**

**Game Name:**

**Age:**

**Gender:**

**Speech Pattern (how do they talk? what do they say? include at least three):**

**Nationality: **

**Personality:**

**Backstory:**

**Why did they buy this game?:**

**Battle Style:**

**Weapon: **

**Preferred Love Interest (what kinds of people do they get along with? what kinds of people are they attracted to? how would they act in a relationship? and others):**

**Likes:**

**Dislikes:**

**Fears:**

**Other (pretty sure I forgot something...):**

**Be as descriptive as possible, everyone! I look forward to reading your OC forms!**

_**Marei, 2/2/14**_


	2. 01: success amidst tragedy

"You're to find a way out for _all_ of them, alright? _All_ of them." Lia crossed her arms. There was a collective groan from the four teens in front of her. The blonde grumbled under her breath before turning to look at the ajar exit door. They were in the dorms, currently, and the Leader was still busy observing the players, so they supposed leaving the door a tiny bit open wouldn't really matter much.

"Though, it seems _someone's_ a bit late," she muttered. "What's his name again? Okazaki or something. Well, his loss." She turned to look back at the four. "Fine. I'll explain a bit clearer just so you won't have to come crawling back out the Main Gate in pieces."

A sixteen-year-old with spiky white hair visibly gulped at the idea.

Lia walked a little towards the front, her back facing them. "First of all, what I said earlier – _find a way out for all the players_ – is basically the gist of what I want you to do. That being said, there's a lot more that I want you guys to get to doing. If ever you meet up with one of the Chosen, feel free to tell them. Leader, despite all his irritability, _did_ choose the best of the best.

"Our info brokers have gathered rumors that Kayaba Akihiko himself is in the game. There's around a 31.28456% that those rumors are true, piecing the evidences and all. However, we still don't have enough proof, so just remain cautious and keep an eye out for any suspiciously incredibly strong individual. If ever you do run into him, contact me and we'll do a little…" Lia grinned. "… 'scan', on him, shall we say."

"Well, anyway. Another thing you guys need to know is that the Main Gate can only be accessed once a day." She narrowed her eyes. "It takes a hell of a lot of time and patience to code a Gate, alright, let alone _five_! _Five_, I tell you! Sheesh." She rubbed her temple, murmuring something along the lines of 'and one didn't even show up to make it useful'. "Moving on, you do know how to use these, right? They're preprogrammed in your inventory already, so just read the description _that took hours to hack in_ and you should be able to know how to use it. Just in case, though – don't use it unless it's a dire emergency. Should you be on the brink of death, drink a potion or use a crystal or whatever – just do not, _do not_, use the Gate without my permission.

"One last thing. I'm sure you all know this already, but Kirigaya isn't here. Leader made _sure_ to keep him miles away from the closest NerveGear and SAO game. Whatever his intentions are, it has something to do with combining Kirigaya's DNA along with the most valuable Chosen's DNA. The perfect human weapon… or something like that." She shrugged. "Honestly, I have _no_ idea what he's trying to do, and how he'll do it, even. But he plans for world domination and I can't say I particularly agree to that. Why I used to follow his every order like a lovesick puppy I will never know."

She clapped her hands. "Well! I believe that's all that needs saying. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask them now."

A hand rose. Lia nodded, gesturing for the seventeen-year-old to speak.

"How're we going to contact you? By IM, or what?" he asked, getting a nervous chuckle for his effort. Lia simply walked over and flicked his forehead, despite the clear difference in height.

"Through the Contact code, of course," she said, clearly annoyed she had forgotten to explain. "It's similar to the Gate code in the part where it took almost an entire year to hack in the game. Either way, it's already preprogrammed in your inventory along with the stupid gate, so just check it out later on. Now get that annoying smirk off your face, Levi."

The brunet rolled his eyes, the 'annoying smirk' still very much present on his face. Lia felt tempted to kick him, but simply turned away, crossing her arms. "A-Anything else?"

Another hand waved in the air. Lia called on it, and the owner began to speak. "Will you be giving us a copy of the Chosen? Pretty sure we can't do much to save their weak asses if we don't even know their names."

Lia gritted her teeth. "_Inventory. Hacked. Just look at it later._"

The black-haired fifteen-year-old closed his mouth.

Another few seconds ticked by, and the blonde took a deep breath, let it out, then turned to face them once more, and perhaps for the last time. "Okay. Is that it? Then, I'll open the Gate. Keep in mind that this is a Gate coded by the second-best coder in here, and he doesn't particularly like Leader as well. Thankfully, this one's a detect-safe Gate, so Leader won't get red alarms like the other Gates once this one opens."

The four nodded as Lia brought out her laptop and typed in a couple lines of code. A "LOADING" screen came up, and after a while, it changed to "GATE OPEN" with a ding. The five NerveGears on the five respective beds started humming and vibrating, indicating it was ready for log-in. Lia gestured for the four of them to start quickly, or –

"_Lia!_ What is the _meaning of this?!_"

The blonde let out an incredibly rude word as Leader, in all his cloaked glory, stood by the door, clearly shocked even under the guise of his hood. With unexpected speed, she tackled Leader to the ground, yelling out commands for the other four who scrambled to slam on their NerveGears. Leader pushed the lithe girl off with ease, but the NerveGears had already been activated and the bodies were _gone no they can't be gone please no my plans are ruined and it's_ all because of the translator.

Leader strode towards the dizzy Lia, who had been slammed to the wall and her head had impacted against it, leaving her woozy and unable to comprehend exactly what was that black blur coming towards her. Only when she was lifted from the back of her collar did she understand that _she won. She had won. Okazaki – or whatever his name was – might have been a tiny bit late, but she had_ won_ and Leader didn't exactly like that._

"You will _pay_ for this," he growled, throwing her to the wall once more. Lia let out a yelp as she fell to the wooden floorboards, feeling blood on the back of her throat. "You disobeyed my orders and had the nerve to _go against_ them. No matter how valuable you think you might be, I am still higher than you and nothing is going to change that."

The blonde was very, _very_ tempted to mumble a sarcastic remark right back at him, but she had the feeling all that was going to come out of her mouth was blood, so she kept her lips sealed and allowed herself to be carried away by the Leader. Just barely hanging on to consciousness, she felt a whoosh of air, and then searing pain on her midsection. _Right,_ she thought, _the dungeon._

* * *

**I await a certain OC form, dear.**

**And oh yes, I am so very horrible that I didn't tell you all about the secret third category - Sent. The four above are the Sent players to SAO, and... well, at least they're out of Leader's reach. For now.**

_**Marei, 2/9/14**_


End file.
